LinkedIn Influencers: Why A Living Wage Actually Grows Our Economy

In my new book I say something bold. "I will overturn many mistaken and long held false beliefs about our economy, who benefits, and even who is driving our economy and her economic growth." In the last two months since it's release I believe we have done just that, in my more than 70 major media interviews alone.

Here is one of those false beliefs: paying workers a living wage (and not just a minimum wage), when a business can reasonably afford to do so, is somehow ‘bad for business.’

When I started my own businesses, I was indeed wage and salary-constrained for sure in those early years, as capital was very tight. But today, I actually work hard to increase worker pay whenever I can. I get better quality workers when I hire from the outside, and I retain workers with a much higher level of personal well-being on the inside. My average tenure of my senior management team today? 10 years plus.

Here’s another incorrect premise: It’s somehow good for America to keep wages low. No, actually that would be China, and other low-wage manufacturing centers of the world.

We actually should want the broadest possible swatch of America doing better financially. Because when they prosper, the privileged-class and the wealthy actually do better too!

Now here is the odd thing. My argument is not a moral argument. It is a business one.